Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
It happens frequently and I still don’t understand it. It is a common practice today for a company to purchase a piece of land with a rather nice building on it. Then, to my surprise and dismay, they promptly tear down the building just to build a new one. The reason this always surprises me is because I don’t see the big picture. I remember a time when a friend of mine bought a piece of land and it had a nice two-story house on it. I was a little surprised when they tore the house down—until I saw what they built instead. It was then that I realized the old didn’t line up with the new.
The story is told of a businessman selling a warehouse property. The building, left vacant for months, suffered damage from vandals – doors broken, windows smashed, and the interior strewn with trash. It was a mess.
After it was put up for sale, a potential buyer came by to see the property. During a tour of the property, the businessman reassured the potential buyer repeatedly that he would clean up the property and do any repairs that were needed. It was then that it happened. The buyer dismissed the repairs, saying, “When I buy this place, I’m tearing down the building and constructing something completely new. I don’t want the building; I want the site.” Once again, that might not make sense until the new was built for the new far outweighed the old.
In the same way, before we come to Christ, we resemble that lot with an old warehouse. With all our sin and all its scars, we find ourselves in a dire spiritual state and our first thought is to get better—to get religion, to get church, to stop this and start that before we let God in. The truth is we don’t need a remodel…we need a resurrection. Our temptation is often to try and fix everything before surrendering to God through faith in Christ.
Well get this. God isn’t interested in our repairs; He desires our site, our lives, our heart. He wants to take us as we are and create something entirely new. Paul, one of the writers in the New Testament said it this way, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Get that—He makes it all new. There’s no need to clean ourselves up before approaching God. Instead, we just need to come and let Him do a total rebuild. Just place your trust in Jesus and allow Him to transform you into something new. Trust me, His rebuild is always much better than our remodel. Let Him have His way—He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne
Grits with Grace 